I almost roll my eyes but keep from doing it. She might be on the other end of a phone, but she would be able to tell in that way annoying little sisters do. That, and I know she’s worried because she cares.
Ever since I moved away from our huge family home and chose the seclusion of my cabin on the mountain, these weekly phone calls have been some of the only human contact I have outside of work. I much prefer being alone, but I will admit—I do sometimes miss the noise.
Though not right now, when all I hear is my sister’s dog barking endlessly in the background, and the children of my other siblings running around screaming.
“It’ll be fine.I’llbe fine,” I reiterate as I set my pack down by the front door. “All I need is for you to keep an eye on the place. I doubt there’ll be anyone trying to break in, but if you could stop by...”
“Oh yeah, I can totally do that,” she says, her voice a little too high, for my liking.
Which means she’s planning something.
“No parties,” I growl. “No bringing anyone up here.” The last time I allowed that, I ended up with a cleaning bill in the hundreds, and one too many drunks wandering the forest. The temps had been in the negatives, and at least one idiot lost a toe from frostbite.
On the other end of the line, my sister sighs. “I wasn’t thinking aboutthat,” she states, moving into what sounds like our mother’s formal dining room, which is really more a storage space for all the extra humans crammed into the house like sardines. “Someone is finally moving into the old Graham house across the street.”
I frown, sitting at my kitchen island, taking in the darkening sky beyond the windows. “What does that have anything to do with me leaving for a week?”
I knew the house, had warned my sister and her friends one too many times not to go over there. It’s a structural mess: floorboards rotting, walls falling, ceiling full of holes. It’s a wonder it hadn’t come down in the last blizzard—or any of the previous storms. I know there are developers eyeing the land because there’s a lot of potential for splitting it into blocks for housing, but the old woman who owns it isn’t planning on giving it up.
“It doesn’t,” my sister sighs. “Or, well, it does. She’s a single mom to twins, and you know that house—it’s unliveable.”
“And that has something to do with me…how?” I reiterate, stomach sinking.
“Well, since you won’t be home for a week and you need someone to watch the cabin, she could do it. The kids are literal angels from what I’ve seen. And she’s a realtor, so she’s looking for work and something temporary for her and the kids while they figure out what to do with the house.”
I don’t say it aloud, but almost everyone who lives in Willow Ridge knows what to do with that piece of land. Most would sell it off for the high selling price and let developers do whatever they want.
But I release a heavy breath and drop my head into my hands. “Are you asking whether this stranger canhouse-sitfor me with herchildren?”
“Uh, yes.” My sister, at least, doesn’t mince her words. “She looks really responsible.”
How responsible can she be if she tried to move into that shithole with her two young kids in tow without seeing it first?I wonder, without speaking aloud once again.
“Winnie…” I warn, voice lowering. “Don’t.”
“Wouldn’t you prefer someone actually responsible over me? Mom can’t drive anymore, Jess has too much on her plate with the kids, Dan is too busy, Candice is dealing with that shithead of a boyfriend, Marley also can’t drive, and Bex doesn’t care if you get broken into or not. Seriously. The single mom working to provide the best for her two kids because her ex-husband is an ass is amuchbetter choice for looking after your cabin while you go out and play caveman.”
“I don’t go out and playcaveman,” I mutter, pushing out of my seat. “But?—”
“No buts,” she interjects. “Think about it logically.”
I bark a laugh, shaking my head. “I don’t need someone to look after the place while I’m gone. Just need to check on it to make sure bears haven’t broken in.”
“What is your problem? Why do you hate helping people but expect it in return?” she snaps, taking me by surprise.
I really have no response to that, partially because I’ve never heard my sister snap at me in that way before, and partially because I don’t have an answer. I’m not…well, I’m not a very welcoming man. I left the house as soon as I turned eighteen because I knew being with my family—as much as I love them—would drive me insane.
If there’s one thing I take seriously, it’s my peace. Peace of mind, of space. Only my family is allowed in my cabin, and still, that’s a rare occurrence. Not because I don’t love them, but because I know how they are. And with them comes chaos. I can’t control it, so I don’t want much of it.
“You know what?” Winnie says, sounding tired—disappointed. “Forget about it. I just wanted to do something good for this woman, and I knew it would help you, too. But I guess you can’t pull that stick out of your ass long enough to understand.”
Hurt swirls within me, but before I’m given a chance to respond, the line goes quiet. I don’t think she’s ever actually hung up on me before.
I take in my cabin quietly, the peace suddenly oppressive, the silence too much. And I shoot off a text I can’t take back:
ME:
please don’t get any ideas.
